More Proof the Right Wing Hates Gays

The right wing generally has three major targets in their “culture war.” Gays, women, and President Obama. Of course, for those of us who have been watching wingnut antics over the last few years, this is not a surprise. Not even a little. We’ve known for years that the far right hates gays, wants women to go back to being barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen, and would love for the President to go to work in a cotton field.

What is new, and what is surprising is just how brazen these people have gotten in recent years. This particular “outrage” from the far right started with a memorandum issued last December by the President. It was issued around the same time as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s historic Gay Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Gay Rights speech at the United Nations.

Clinton’s radical ideas included the “outrageous” notion that “it should never be a crime to be gay.” The Obama memorandum’s opening paragraph including an equally “scandalous” concept:

I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation. That is why I declared before heads of state gathered at the United Nations, “no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.”

Let’s be clear. The President isn’t talking about mere religious “disapproval” as our local right wingnuts like to claim. He’s talking about countries that imprison people or kill them just for being gay. He’s talking about countries like Iran, where gays are publicly executed by hanging. He’s talking about Uganda, a nation that is driven by a wild religious fervor to criminalize homosexual relationships to the point of even making those who withhold information about gay friends and family subject to punishment. Worse yet, Ugandan officials are working to pass a law to make some forms of homosexual relationships a capitol offense.

That’s right. A “Christian” nation wants to kill gay people.

As it turns out, they’re not the only ones. American right wing groups and websites were quick to condemn the push for LGBT fairness across the world. After all, countries should have the right to kill their own people, apparently. World Net Daily’s William J. Murray writes:

Muslim refugees and homosexuals now have special status to immigrate to the United States. This is an Obama legacy that must be ended. This nation needs immigrants that are well educated, hardworking and of child-bearing age, not those arriving with special needs under special circumstances to satisfy a political agenda.

The message that Murray is communicating here is quite clear. Don’t let those evil Muslims and Gays into our country. Muslims should stay where they are, and gays — who are threatened with execution — should just deal with the consequences of their orientation. After all, how would people prove their “gayness?”

In effect President Obama ordered U.S. agencies to import homosexuals from all over the world who are threatened. Thus anyone walking into an embassy anywhere in the world where homosexual activities, including “gay marriage,” are illegal and claiming to be gay will be put at the front of the line to immigrate to the United States. How would they prove their “gayness”?

This is the kind of vile reasoning these people have. It’s not limited to the homophobes at WND, either. Mass Resistance, a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified hate group, had their fair share of arm flailing as well:

Even when Obama appointed homosexual activist Kevin Jennings to the Department of Education, people doubted his deep commitment to the homosexual movement. This should quell doubts anyone may yet have.

Take another look the list of federal agencies involved, and the vehemence of the Obama administration on this. Make no mistake about it. This will lead to increasingly brutal oppression against people with traditional values both in America and around the world.

Apparently, Mass Resistance thinks that throwing gays in jail or killing them is a “traditional value.” The list of agencies, by the way are in the memorandum itself:

For the purposes of this memorandum, agencies engaged abroad include the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Export Import Bank, the United States Trade Representative, and such other agencies as the President may designate.

Another SPLC-certified hate group, the Family Research Council, also chimed in with their vitriol on the topic:

“It is startling that President Obama is prepared to throw the full weight and reputation of the United States behind the promotion overseas of the radical ideology of the sexual revolution. If he did the same on other issues, his own liberal allies would undoubtedly accuse him of cultural imperialism. Threats to withhold foreign aid from poor countries unless they conform their laws to the views of Western radicals are unconscionable.

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow with the FRC, said in 2010 that homosexuality should be criminalized. Hey, at least they’re consistent.

The next time a “religious right” person says that merely “disagree” with the “lifestyle” of LGBT people, ask them to read the President’s memorandum and see what their reaction is.

The simple fact is this: The groups that are the most vocal in their opposition of this memorandum are aligning themselves with countries that imprison or kill gays — for no other reason than the fact they’re gay.

Acquiescence to bigotry and hate is silent approval. Never forget that.

3 Responses to "More Proof the Right Wing Hates Gays"

Excellent post and excellent information, David. There has been something percolating in my mind for several months now. It started right after the Tea Party took over the Republican party by promising it was all about jobs, national debt and the economy. Then they immediately started attacking LGTB and women's rights (not to mention labor and a host of other non-job-growth stuff). Talk about a Trojan horse! My father and two older brothers are strong Tea Party whack jobs. But, they and their spouses came to our wedding and they tell us they love us. Here’s that thing that keeps nagging at me: How can you say you love us and vote for and actively support people who hate us? And just over the last few months, at the tender age of 53 years old, I have made a decision: You can’t. That might be “love” to you, but it isn’t to me.

When I came out to my parents when I was 30 years old, they were shocked. (I was a late bloomer, but that’s a long story.) At first, my very evangelical mother was morose and depressed. But then she sat down with me one day and said, “You and I shared a body for nine months. I KNOW you in a way that only a mother can. And, I have been forced to admit that I have KNOWN this about your sexuality for a long time but refused to think about it. Now I am being forced to think about it. And learn about it. I want to get my hands on everything you can find that will help me understand you being gay.” So, I went to “A Different Light” bookstore in San Francisco and bought her about ten books. (I so wish that you and John Shore had been writing at that time.) She read them all in about two days. Then she sat down with her pastor and told him that what the church was teaching about homosexuality was not only wrong, but dangerous. He admonished her and she left the church and never went back. She stopped voting Republican after their convention in 1992. She passed away in 1994, but she was a great example and I don’t think I ever connected the dots until just recently. What she did was what any parent or true friend of a LGBT person SHOULD do. She disassociated herself from people and organizations who have an agenda to not only oppose us, but to actually do us harm.

So, Gordy isn’t just going to stand by and tolerate being tolerated. That’s not good enough. Family, if you want “these people” (and I mean that with all disrespect) in your life, then you don’t get to be in mine. It’s very simple. I’m sure the books I bought Mom are still around and I sent you “Unfair” by John Shore. Read them. Get back to me.